


Wizard or Weird Psychic

by twilighteve



Series: Paranatural Hogwarts AU [1]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, pnat hogwarts au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 23:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5645095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilighteve/pseuds/twilighteve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange things had always happened around Max. So when the Hogwarts acceptance letter came, it gave the family the much needed explanation. Hogwarts AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wizard or Weird Psychic

The Puckett family had known that Maxwell was a weird child.

It was only expected, really. With a mom and dad like that of the Puckett family, any kid would grow up being a weird kid. Max’s tendency to dish out sarcastic comments without blinking is an indication. Zoey’s tendency to overlook the family’s antiques and easily submerge herself in it despite knowing the craziness was another.

But Max? Max brought the weirdness to another level entirely.

It happened once, when he was about five. He was watching Mom create another of those weird iron duck toy she loved to forge, and he took a metal screw and played with it. Somehow, the screw got stuck onto his palm and wouldn’t budge no matter what, as though he had glued it to his skin, or had a very strong magnet as skin. It finally came off a few hours later. They never found out why.

Another incident happened when he was six. He was playing around with his scooter like usual, sliding up and down the stairs at the park near their house, when he felt the urge to climb up the old, large tree all parents had warned their children _not_ to climb. His foot slipped just as he was nearing the top, and he fell. Somehow, he had hovered a few feet above ground, levitating like there were strings suspending him, before he landed on his feet, completely unscathed. They never found any explanation for this, either.

The oddity grew even stranger after Mrs. Puckett died her untimely death. Black cloud-like mist that hovered over Max’s head, that Zoey once thought was a ghost. It vanished milliseconds after it was spotted, and had never appeared again after the first week it appeared. Various metallic objects, ranging from paperclips to screwdrivers, sticking to Max’s skin and refused to let go. Once, a metal bat stuck to Max’s skin for a whole month, and the boy had no choice but to bring it around anywhere he went. Once he could take the bat off, it ended up levitating in front of him for a few hours before clattering to the ground.

“Hey, Max,” Dad once told the boy in the middle of the night, grasping his shoulder in a way that could only be described as fatherly. “I’d still love you even if you were a weird psychic, you know.”

Max only blinked blearily at him, eyes heavy with sleep. “Dad… it’s one o’clock. A.M.”

“Is there any wrong time to tell your kids that you love them even if they were a weird psychic?”

“Dad, I’m not – “ Max took a deep breath, burying his face back into his pillow. “Good to know,” he grumbled, voice muffled.

No matter how much Max wanted to deny being a weird psychic, the fact was that weird things happened around him. That was just something he couldn’t deny.

So, really, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when a letter, written in heavy parchment instead of the paper the Puckett family were used to, came. And certainly, it shouldn’t be surprising when the addressee turned out to be Max.

“Are you sure this isn’t a mistake?” Max asked his dad as the two of them and Zoey huddled together by the kitchen counter, opening the heavy envelope with a butter knife.

“Of course it isn’t a mistake,” Dad announced confidently as he worked the knife expertly. “Look, it has our address written clearly here. It even included your room!”

“Do letters normally do that?” Zoey asked with furrowed brows, clearly not sure but finding it strange if the speculation was right.

“No, but this just tells you that the letter is intended to be our Max’s, right?” Dad pulled the parchments inside victoriously. “A ha! What have we here…?”

To their surprise, the letter read,

 

 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

 

Headmistress: Boss Leader

_(True name, Titles, and Associated Organizations Classified. The Headmistress Chooses to be Mysterious.)_

 

Dear Mr. Puckett,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipments.

Term begins at 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

 

Yours sincerely,

Mina Zarei

Head of Slytherin House

 

 

“Um, what…?” Max pointed at the parchment in disbelief. What kind of prank was this? Him, a wizard? That sounded so…

Well, that sort of made sense, actually. How else would he be able to explain all the weird things that had happened to him? It was ridiculous, yes, but if wizards really did exist then it was the best explanation there was to his… condition.

“The second page has this weird list of books and things,” Zoey noted, showing both Max and Dad the second sheet of parchment they had neglected in favor of the first.

“Lemme see,” Dad took the parchment and adjusted his glasses. “First years will require sets of plain robes, plain pointed hat, protective gloves – cool, it says you could have a pair made from dragon hide – also one winter cloak… there’s also a list of books. _The Standard Books of Spells, A History of Magic, Magical Theory…_ ” he rattled off a string of book titles that really sounded weirder than any book had the right to be.

If there was still any doubt of the letter’s credibility, the list eradicated them from Max’s mind. Who even had the time and energy to make such elaborate prank? Max could only think that this was serious.

“Look, Max, you even get to have your own wand, cauldron, phials, telescope, and scales!” Dad pointed out, finger pointing to the list in the letter excitedly. “How cool is that?’

“It’s… cool, yeah, I guess,” Max muttered, not really knowing what he could say to respond to that. How else was he supposed to? Normally, he would probably laugh at the letter and chalk it up as a very good, very elaborate prank someone with too much time had pulled. But when it provided so many sound much-needed explanation that was logical in all its illogical ways, what else could he do?

“Does this mean you’ll be able to turn people to frogs?” Zoey asked with a gleam in her eyes that looked more dangerously excited than it had any right to be.

“I doubt it would be ethical for anyone to do that, so no,” Max deadpanned.

“Will you make me my own personal lightsaber, at least?”

Max gave it a moment of thought. “If I had the skill to, I would,” he nodded.

“Oh! Oh! Me too!” Dad yelled immediately, looking like a little kid on a Christmas day.

“Alright,” Max shrugged with a smile. How could he say no to that innocent little request?

And then, Dad took a long moment to stare at his face, eyes looking intense in a way that he only accomplished a handful of times before in his life. Then, before Max could ask why he was staring, Dad smiled widely, patting him on his shoulders. “I’d still love you even if you’re a weird psychic. You know that, right, Max?”

That pulled on Max’s memories, and he smiled. “Technically, it’s wizard, Dad,” he grinned, patting Dad’s hand calmly with one hand while the other put the sheet of parchment on the kitchen counter.

“And me too!” Zoey announced loudly. “You’re still my brother even if you’re a weird psychic!”

“ _Wizard_ , Zoey,” Max corrected. “And yeah, you’re still gonna be my sister. We’re blood related so I don’t think that’s gonna change easily – _Oof_.” His words were cut off when Zoey smashed to him and circled her arms around his waist.

“Group hug!” Dad shouted before enveloping both Max and Zoey in a bear hug.

“Dad!” Max protested as he forced his laugh down, but made no move to break the hug. “Not that tight. I can’t breathe!”

“Lies, I can breathe just fine!” Zoey countered with a loud laugh, making no effort to conceal the delight. “Hug tighter, Dad!”

“On it!” Dad tightened the hug with a laugh of his own, though not too much it actually suffocated Max and Zoey. They tangled in the group hug for a while, content, not the least bit awkward.

“It’s official; you’re the family’s weird psychic,” Dad grinned.

“ _Wizard_ , Dad, _wizard_ ,” Max corrected again.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s _wizard_ or _weird psychic_ ,” Dad shrugged, shaking both Max and Zoey in his hold, “you’re still our family.”

And that, perhaps, was the most calming thing that Max had ever heard his dad say to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of thing that I made about what I think happened prior to Max getting enrolled into Hogwarts. I mean, there has to be something that happened before that indicated he’s a wizard. Weird things that can’t be explained. So... I think these were what happened. Hope this is good.
> 
> The Hogwarts AU was created by tree-girl and apocalypse-sweet (tumblr) and I’m just adding fanfics to their beautiful creation.


End file.
